Series Wednesday: Family game night page 36

        I open the card. “Happy early birthday Cahira, but then again you were actually born months before your birthday. So I thought this was fitting. Grab Grace and the pictures sent with her gift. Go back to where it all begin. This scavenger hunt isn’t just for you. It’s also for me to. It is a chance for you to get to know my story of how I found you. Also send Chance home with no explanation. See you soon little sister.” I look at Chance “sorry I can’t tell you what this is about. All I can say is that this is for me to get Percy back.” I tell Chance and he smiles. “Okay, just be careful. Also once you get Percy back we are going to talk about what Enrique is doing in your bed. I mean I am your boyfriend.” Chance laughs. “I promise we’ll talk about it after.” I hug Chance and sent him out on his way. Now time to get dressed and get Grace out of the house. I walk back into my room to see Enrique is awake. “I need you to wake up Grace and get her to come to my room without my parents noticing.” Enrique nods yes. He gets up out of my bed. “One thing first.” I look at him and he kisses me on the check. He goes out my window. I start to get dress and think of the first box. The pictures and the box. It all began at that stupid carnival when I was a kid. Grace comes into my room. “Are you ready??” I nod yes.

                We head out of the window, Enrique agreed to keep my parent entertained until we get back. Grace points at her car. “Let’s go on my motorcycle.” I whisper. “No, it makes too much noise plus mom and dad will look for your motorcycle before they look for my car.” She makes a good point. So I follow her to the car and get in the passenger seat. I hand her the picture. “This is where we need to start. But I don’t even remember where this is.” I tell Grace. “It’s okay, I remember exactly where this is. They have this carnival every year. I have gone a few times since we were kids.” I had no idea that she has been back there since we were kids. “Well let’s go.” I tell her.  Grace starts to drive us away from home. I sit and wonder what it was about this place that our brother wants us to get to. Who even knows what this whack job is all about? We pull up to the empty field where they normally hold the carnival. We get out of the car and walk around the empty field. “What are we looking for?” Grace asks me. I shrug as we look around. I hold the picture of us up hoping it would help me. There is a tree in the background of our picture. I look around at the trees in the field. “Look!” I tell Grace as I point at the tree. “It’s an old tree” she says to me. “Yes, old enough not to change much since this picture was taken. I think this tree is where we start.” I walk over to the tree and circle around it. “Look up” Grace says. There is a balloon stuck in the tree. It is the kind of balloon you get at a carnival. I look at Grace as I put my hands out to boost her up into the tree. Grace climbs up and grabs the balloon. “Doesn’t this remind you of that one creepy clown movie?” I tell Grace as she holds the balloon. “Great that’s the thought I need in my head, a crazy clown that does weird stuff. You know now that we are talking about it I never really got that movie.” Grace says with a puzzled look on her face. “Yea you know what me either.” We both just stand there for a second. “Well at least this balloon is green.”  Grace says as she looks at the balloon. “Why would you stick a green balloon in a green tree? I mean it isn’t hard enough to see with all those leaves.” Grace looks at the balloon. “There are papers inside.” I pull my knife out of my pocket and pop the balloon. “Bye bye balloon.” Grace says as I pick up the paper off the floor. I look at Grace as I open the paper to start reading it. “Hello there my darling sisters. This journey to get Percy back alive is about so much more than just Percy. It is about me. So when you get closer to finding Percy you will learn about me. This is the place I first suspected I was adopted. This was the first place and first time I ever killed anyone. Cahira I am sure you have no memory of this, but you were there. You see I was always very smart and was always the top of my class. This made me a target for other children. As smart as I was I also had bad anxiety. It was super hard for me to function like other kids. I was teased because of my anxiety and my speech impediment that went with it. This is where I figured out my anxiety wasn’t anxiety. I was being teased this night at the carnival, that’s when Cahira walked up to me. You were the most confident child I had ever seen. You told me people can’t talk when they are dead. The way you smiled at me changed my life forever. I knew right then that somehow you were a part of me. I killed the boy teasing me that night and my anxiety went away. You caught me dragging away his lifeless body. You asked me how I did it. I told you with my shoe lace, you told me I should make it look like he hung himself. You smile and walked away. That was the day I became the person I am today. I started killing after that. So, this is where my story began. The next place you will find another piece of the story is where it all went a blaze. Happy hunting my dear sisters.” I look at Grace. “To the old house?” Grace says. “Looks like it.” I say as I head to the car.